The present invention relates to the construction of a cover for a vehicle accessory such as an illuminated vanity mirror visor.
Vanity mirrors in vehicle visors are typically covered by a decorative and protective cover such that when the visor is in a lowered use position for sunblocking, the vanity mirror is covered when the mirror is not in use for safety reasons. The cover can be pivoted to a snapped-open position, typically activating lights for illumination of the vanity mirror for use. The cover, therefore, provides not only a safety function, but also a decorative function preventing reflections from the vanity mirror when not in use from distracting the vehicle operator. U.S. Pat. No. 5,098,150 issued on Mar. 24, 1992, discloses an illuminated vanity mirror visor of this type.
In the past, covers for vanity mirrors and other vehicle accessories typically have been molded as a single plastic member which may have a pebble-grained surface for ornamentation. For higher line vehicles where a solid plastic cover may be undesirable from a design standpoint, the covers typically have included a relatively large fabric insert and are made by providing an outer cover frame with a significantly large rectangular aperture behind which a fabric pad is located with the combination being enclosed with a backing plate, which is ultrasonically welded to the outer cover. This sandwich construction, although providing a high-quality, decorative cover, is relatively expensive to manufacture both in terms of cost of material and labor. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an attractive cover which is both functional and which has a reduced cost and is relatively easy to manufacture.